Just as we did over Memorial Day, we used the long Labor Day weekend to squeeze in a few days at my parents’ beach house near Bethany Beach, Delaware. It was another trip full of family, food, and fun-slash-weird finds. And you know we love a good vacation/what-we-saw/what-we-bought post. And we actually bought two pretty big items that we’ve been trying to find for a while.

Our weekend adventure actually began in Maryland. Specifically, here:

It’s the Ole Sale Barn in Denton, MD. We’ve passed it countless times on our treks to the beach and have always been fascinated by it. The stars finally aligned on this trip (i.e. weather, holiday schedules, baby nap schedule) to allow us to make the stop… at which point we were immediately greeted by Beyoncé. If you don’t understand the reference, you must read this (warning: there’s profanity, but it might be the funniest thing on the interweb).

The oddities didn’t stop at the over-sized metal chicken (which, we should note, was no longer there on our return trip – meaning someone probably bought the thing). Clara was weirdly fascinated by all of the lawn jockeys. Maybe she was just happy to be taller than them? Find Clara. It’s like Where’s Waldo.

There were actually some cool finds amongst the smorgasbord as well. We think these were patio table tops or some sort of grate cover, but we thought they could make really cool (albeit heavy) wall art.

I was obsessed – wait, correction – OBSESSED with these white and gold sign letters. The guy was selling them for $20 each and they were even wired to light up. Had any of the letters meant anything to us I would’ve taken them home without hesitation (I later realized an upside down L could’ve looked like a 7 – which is our favorite number – major bummer). Oh, and the owner told me that they were meant for a Dollar Tree store but “never made it to their destination.” Not sure what that meant (did they “fall off a truck?”) but I figured it was best not to pry.

Inside the barn was a bit more chaotic, but there was still plenty to dig through. The only thing that really caught our eyes (besides a giant metal Shrek and a carnival water pistol game) was this trio of overlapping mirrors. It looked less odd in person (we could picture it painted charcoal or soft gray) so the photo doesn’t really do it justice. Now we’re just mesmerized by the creepy plastic mermaid bust in the reflection. Totally didn’t see that when we snapped the pic. Maybe she’s a Mer-ghost.

In the end, we left the Ole Sale Barn without anything but an X next to “stop at that fun looking barn place” on our mental travel checklist. And of course now I live with deep regret that I didn’t buy one of those big letter L’s and flip it upside down to make it a 7. Sad clown.

One place that has its fair share of Xs on that same must-stop-by checklist is Beach Plum Antiques, one of our favorite stops in Bethany. It’s overflowing with cool, beach-y finds and we’ve mentioned it here and here among other places. Don’t let the “antiques” part of the name fool you, it’s a good old fashioned thrift store and we’ve snagged lots o’ deals there.

They had some of your usual beachy-cool objects, like these nautical glass buoys…

… and some more unique discoveries, like this crazy cool ship’s throttle. If only the darned thing weren’t $395. That put a pretty quick “stop” to our daydream about where it could live in our house. After poking around a while we (kind of surprisingly) left Beach Plum Antiques without any purchases either.

Shopping wasn’t the only way we got our home-y fix over the long weekend. On Sunday we took a quick detour to visit the nearby home of some of my parents’ friends, Pam and Neil (Pam was actually one of my bosses at my high school library job). They were putting the finishing touches on an above-garage addition that not only added two bedrooms and a bath, but also a second story. See the peak on the left side of the house with the double window?That’s all new as of just a few months ago.

A new second story meant they needed a set of stairs, which Pam and Neil had custom designed for a cool open & industrial feel. Since they greet you as soon as you open the door, they wanted to make them as visually unobtrusive as possible so your eye still continues through the hallway and into the living room behind it (hence the light colors and the thin wire sides). It’s hard to tell from the photos, but the light wood was very softly gray-washed, which looked really airy yet still warm because the wood tone and grain showed through.

To make way for the stairs they also had to bump out their front door about 3 feet (so the last step wasn’t right on the door frame). The only problem was that they didn’t have enough extra floor tile sitting around to fill the new space (they only had about 12 squares). So they made lemonade and designed this mosaic inset constructed entirely of new tiles, meaning the few large leftover ones could be used around the border so the whole thing looked intentional (as opposed to screaming “we ran out of tile”). It looked so much like an intentional choice, that we complimented their “tile welcome mat” even before hearing the story about the material-shortage dilemma.

They had another smart use of tile in the new bathroom upstairs, where Pam couldn’t find any small tiles that she liked for the shower floor. Since she had already fallen in love with the larger tiles used in the rest of the bathroom, she had her builder cut the large tiles into a bunch of smaller squares for the shower floor. Certainly a bit more work, but it definitely took the guess work out of “will this tile coordinate with that tile?” and looked really great (and not too over-done with different tiling choices everywhere). It definite had that easy beach-house feeling.

But the weekend wasn’t all just inspiration. We did come home with a little somethin-somethin, thanks to this yard sale sign that Sherry spotted on our way back from the playground one morning.

We did our usual drive-by to see if it was worth stopping, and these night stand beauties immediately caught our eye. They’re the real deal (from the 50s or 60s, made of solid wood, and even have awesome dovetailed joints). And you know we’re desperately in need of some not-too-short nightstands with drawers (instead of the squat stand-in old living room side tables that we’ve used for the last nine months).

It was meant to be. Especially when the seller was willing to hand ‘em over for just $11 each (he was asking $30 for both, but Sherry pulled the “all I have is $22 cash” thing, which was actually true). We worried they wouldn’t fit in our car (with a huge baby seat, pack & play, and dog crate to work around) but we somehow got one in the trunk and one in the back seat. And seriously, can you beat $11 a piece?

Had our car been bigger, we also would’ve taken this guy home. But my sister (who has a larger car and a similar design taste) took one look at our pictures and high tailed it back to the same yard sale. She came back $30 poorer with this in her trunk. We think it’s hilarious that we each own part of the same mid century bedroom set (we would have used the dresser as a cabinet/buffet in our dining room near the front door). My sister Emily’s not sure where she’s gonna put it yet, so we’re secretly hoping we’ll inherit it eventually. We’ll even pay $30 for it. Haha. Fingers crossed.

But if you think all of our antique hopping, addition touring, and yard sale scoping got in the way of a “normal” little weekend trip, have no fear. Clara’s a beach diva, so there was no denying her some sand and surf (notice the nightstand seat-belted in next to her?).

The water was a bit chilly and the beach (well, what was left of it after Irene) was on the crowded side, but Clara was none the wiser and we all had a great time.

She and her cousins partied with sand in their diapers and said a proper sayonara to summer (which some of you saw earlier this week over on Young House Life). And of course there was some sea gull watching (and the occasional “birdieeee!” scream).

Is there anything better than a sunny day with my girls on the beach? Maybe $11 night tables. Just kidding. Kind of.

What did you guys buy/do/travel to see this weekend? It certainly was nice to get out of the house (and stop staring at the half-completed desk) for a few days. I think those breaks keep us coming back for more DIY madness (that counter might have killed me pre-break, but two days on the beach + cheap nightstands = Refreshed John, who was ready to build). Do you have any other end-of-summer things on your agenda? We keep forgetting it’s not still August. So when my aunt mentioned that Christmas was around fifteen weeks away our brains almost exploded.

Psst- We announced this week’s giveaway winners. Click here to see if you’re one of them.

The beyonce chicken post! That is so funny you referenced that. I have NEVER read a blog post like that one and LOLed more! Hilarious. I’m glad you mentioned. It gave me a chance to enjoy it again! Looks like a fun weekend!

Hi Sherrie and John!
I love your blog and read it over and over. I, like you, work in the advertising industry (more toward the PR side though)and I’m truly enamored with your writing style. It’s light, fresh and just down right hilarious!

This is truly no big deal, but being that we share the same passion for writing, I just wanted to share that there’s a tiny typo in this post, which I’m sure was completely unintentional, so no judgement here! I must say that this is the FIRST I’ve seen out of ALL of your posts. And I’ve read them all, I assure you. :) It’s the word “hosue” in the picture about Pam and Neil’s house.

Anyway, just thought I’d share, from one professional to the other. I love when people point out my typos because it’s better than just leaving them up there…eek!

I love you guys and truly love your entire blog. I feel like I know! I’m sure you get that a lot. Thanks for doing what you do, you’re definitely a source of encouragement (more than you could ever realize).

Have an awesome day and an awesome weekend!

P.S. Oh and PLEASE feel free to delete this post afterward, I don’t mind at all :)

I love your blog and read it over and over. I, like you, work in the advertising industry (more toward the PR side though)and I’m truly enamored with your writing style. It’s light, fresh and just down right hilarious!

This is truly no big deal, but being that we share the same passion for writing, I just wanted to share that there’s a tiny typo in this post, which I’m sure was completely unintentional, so no judgement here! I must say that this is the FIRST I’ve seen out of ALL of your posts. And I’ve read them all, I assure you. :) It’s the word “hosue” in the picture about Pam and Neil’s house.

Anyway, just thought I’d share, from one professional to the other. I love when people point out my typos because it’s better than just leaving them up there…eek!

I love you guys and truly love your entire blog. I feel like I know! I’m sure you get that a lot. Thanks for doing what you do, you’re definitely a source of encouragement (more than you could ever realize).

Have an awesome day and an awesome weekend!

P.S. Oh and PLEASE feel free to delete this post afterward, I don’t mind at all :)

I’m going to date myself here, but the 50’s dresser my parents got for me as a teeny child is now in my dining room as a buffet. Knew it was going to go there as soon as I had a big enough dining room!

Labour day weekend I hopped on the back of my husbands motorcycle, and along with another couple, we took a country tour of our little province. It was a beautiful drive along the ocean and we passed so many yard sales shops but had no way to bring anything home with us. We just had enough room for our lightly packed overnight bag. We did vow to go that way again in the fall with the car… just in case. :) I saw the cutest homemade birdhouses on the side of the road and hope he still has them the next time we’re down that way.

I’m SO incredibly jealous of your garage sale furniture! That is the exact look I need in my bedroom. Occasionally they show up on Craigslist but they are either way more than I can afford or too far away. :'( Enjoy yours!

Um….when I discovered that Beyonce post a few months ago, I nearly cried from laughter. And even now, if I need a good laugh, I head to Bloggess’ blog. Did you know that Beyonce has her own FB page? Yeah, she’s got like 20k+ fans or something crazy. Did you read the post about putting messages on bananas with toothpicks? Hysterical!!

We spent our weekend in Bethany Beach too – we have a family house there and many of our summer weekends at the beach. We’ve been to Beach Plum Antiques and love to hit the garage sales at the beach. It’s fun to see Bethany from another perspective. Hope you enjoyed the weekend – it looks like you did! We’re also just starting out on our own office remodel (among many, many other house projects coming up). Thanks for the great inspiration!

I LOVE Bloggess! That was actually the first post of hers that I read and then I was hooked. I need a rooster like that for my front stoop. But I don’t think our condo neighbors would like it… Looks like a fun vacay!

John and Sherry:
First of all, I love looking at pictures of Clara. She truly is the cutest baby and her photos always make me happy. Keep those Clara photos coming!
Second of all: the office rocks!!! I love the dark wood on the white cabinets in your office redo. Also, I love the night stands you scored at that garage sale… I covet them for my master. I’d paint them a bright coral. Yum. Check out Eddie Ross’s design blog for a clever and inexpensive upcycle of an old chandelier he did for a bedroom make-over. I can envision a similar upcycle for your office light fixture (with your colors and flavas of course). Great posts today. Thank you!!

So I saw the Beyonce picture and thought…where do I know that chicken? Then it came to me…the bloggess haha <3 that post. Looks like you had a fantastic weekend. Nice to relax after such a hectic couple of weeks between all the natural disasters, mirror stress and desk building.

Those nightstands ROCK! Wish I could find an awesome yard sale like that. It would have been hard not to find a way to make the dresser go home too – roof rack with straps? Maybe you need to start keeping straps in the car for the “big” purchases. =)

those nightstands are fab! i’m going to start scouring yard sales for something similar for between my boys’ beds.

we were just down the road a ways in fenwick island, de over the holiday weekend! we vacation there every summer. we got a bit of a later start courtesy of irene (lost first 2 days, but owner kindly refunded us), but it was a fantastic week. i’m itching to go back already! and one day, i’ll finally hit beach plum…totally forgot about it…d’oh!

I have to comment. I have inherited my mom’s bedroom furniture (it was hers as a teenager in the 60s) which is the same style at the nightstands you bought! My nightstand has a drawer on top and open shelf on bottom though, and my dresser drawers are slightly different than the dresser your sister bought, but overall, same look. I am anxiously waiting to see what you guys do with the nightstands. :)

About

Hey, we're Sherry & John. This is where we chronicled 7 years of our lives as we fixed up 3 homes, had 2 children, became accidental authors and product designers, and shared our adventures (and misadventures) with the world. Now it's a time capsule of sorts, complete with nearly 3,000 posts, projects, and updates.